Murder detectives investigate disappearance of Kentish Town woman three years ago

Monday 31 March 2014 07:33 BST

Homicide detectives are investigating the case of a young mother who disappeared from her London home more than three years ago.

Lana Purcell, 28, who has an nine-year-old daughter, vanished without trace from her home in Kentish Town in January 2011.

Detectives have investigated links with the drug and vice trade in Soho but have always classified her as a missing person case.

She has not used her bank account since she disappeared and all reported sightings of her have been false alarms.

Now Scotland Yard’s Homicide and Serious Crime unit has launched a review of the case amid new fears for her safety.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Packer, of Camden CID, said: “I have real concerns about where Lana is. She had a chaotic lifestyle and she did mix with the criminal underworld.

“There is a lot of hearsay and rumour about Lana but we have no proof of any third party being involved in her disappearance.”

Ms Purcell’s sister Davina, 31, said the development was “good news.” She said : “It is what we have wanted for three years.”

She said she felt the police had been dragging their heels.

“I don’t think they believed me when I first said that she was missing. They kept saying they thought her ‘chaotic life’ had got too much and she had left to start afresh. But it didn’t make sense, it was all too sudden,” she said.

Ms Purcell, who is bringing up her sister’s nine and a half-year-old daughter, said police did not trace her sister’s phone for several months whcih meant they missed clues and they only took a statement from her 18 months after she went missing.

She said : “I think there are a lot of things that should and could have been done. I think because she took drugs they did not take it seriously.

“But I still hold out hope that Lana will be found. I have got top stay positive for her daughter.”

A Met spokesman said Ms Purcell was reported missing from her home in Wellesley Road, Kentish Town on January 17, 2011.

He said : “Police in Camden conducted numerous lines of enquiry over the intervening period and the investigation has been both complex and protracted.”

The case is still a missing persons inquiry.

Anyone with information should call the the incident room 020 8358 0400 or ring Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.